Set of golf clubs



United States Patent [72] Inventor Henry Koorland 10136 Paradise Blvd.,St. Petersburg, Florida 33706 [2!] Appl. No. 658,907 [22] Filed Aug. 7,1967 [45] Patented Nov. 10,1970

[541 SET OF GOLF CLUBS 1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 273/77, 273/80 [51} Int. Cl. A63b 53 02, A63b 53/00 [50]Field 01 Search 273/167, 80,169,80.280.9,77(A) [56] References CitedUNITED STATES PATENTS 669,864 3/1901 Simpson 273/167 1,705,250 3/1929Hincks 273/167X 3,077,350 2/1963 Koorland 273/80(C)X FOREIGN PATENTS465,652 1937 Great Britain 273/169 Primary Examiner-Richard C. PinkhamAssistant Examiner-Paul E. Shapiro Attorney-Stefan M. Stein ABSTRACT: Aset of golf clubs of the driving type with the club heads positionedrearwardly of their respective hoseis by a shank. Each shank is angledwith respect to each hosel and is affixed at one end to the hose] and atthe other end to the face of the club head. The faces of the club headsare angled differently with respect to the longitudinal axis of eachclub shaft, and each shank is secured to the upper portion of the facein clubs having a small face angle and to the lower portion of the facein clubs having a large face angle.

Patented Nov. 10; 1970 3,539,184

INVENTOR.

BY 2 he.

SET OF GOLF CLUBS This invention relates to a novel golf club and moreparticularly to a golf club which automatically strikes the ball on thedownswing, thus "pinching the ball between the club face and the groundand imparting the correct back spin to the ball. The desired divot willautomatically result, indicating that a proper hit of the ball has beenmade. The club may be an iron or a wood.

The game of golf intrigues millions. It is relaxing, pleasurable,healthful and companionable, but it is frustrating to the everydaygolfer. It is frustrating because of the nature of the game and theusual golfers inability to frequently practice it. The ordinary golferslices, hooks", shanks, tops", and cuts at the golf ball during the gamewith consequent loss of control over the ball during its flight. As aconsequence, the ball lands everyplace but where intended by the player.As a result, his score is adversely affected and he becomes quitediscouraged.

The trouble with weekend or just. occasional golf is that the golfer isunable to develop the necessary control over his swing of the club tocontrol the path of flight of the golf ball. In contrast, a professionalgolfer, through ability and through dogged practice, has developed eachnecessary muscle in his body to accurately control his swing. He can puta back spin or a front spin on his layup shots. And he can drive with apower and with a control absolutely astonishing to the ordinary golfer.

Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a ball drivingtype golfclub wherein the hands of the golfer are automatically keptahead ofthe club face.

Another object is to provide a golf club, of the above character,wherein, because of the structure of the club, the golfer may alwaysadvantageously position the ball to be hit in the middle of his stance,thereby eliminating the need for judgment as to ball position as theclub number is changed.

Still another object is to provide a golf club of the above characterwhich substantially eliminates any desire or possibility on the part ofthe golfer to scoop the ball.

A further object is to provide a golf club, of the above character,which automatically causes striking a descending blow to the ball beinghit.

A still further object is to provide a golf club, of the abovecharacter, which advantageously causes the automatic taking of a divotor small bit of earth with each blow of the ball, thereby providing agood indication of proper striking of the ball.

Another object is to provide a golf club, of the above character, whichbecause of its structure, makes slicing ofthe ball virtually impossible.

Another object is to provide a golf club, of the above character, whichbecause of its structure, makes hooking of the ball virtuallyimpossible.

Another object is to provide a golf club, of the above character,wherein the hitting area of the club head presented to the ball during ahit, because of the structure of the club, is advantageously limited tothe center face portion.

Another object is to provide a golf club, of the above character, havinga unique balance point.

Another object is to provide a golf club, of the above character, havinga cantilever hang when balanced upon a point on the shaft.

Another object is to provide a golf club, of the above character,wherein the face of the club head is automatically positioned square tothe desired line of flight of the ball, thereby effecting better aim ofthe ball.

Another object is to provide a structure for a golf club which canaccomplish substantially all of the above objectives, and yet isapplicable to woods as well as irons of all ranges.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in partappear hereinafter.

A novel structure for a driving type'golf club has now been found whichaccomplishes the above objectives. It consists of a shaft having a hoselat the lower end and a club head interconnected with a rearwardlyextending shank from the hose! to the club headf'lhe shank may beconnected to the upper or lower edge of one side of the face. Thestructure is applicable to both woods and irons and is independent ofthe number of the club; that is, whether it is a driver, chipper, or anyintermediate club.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction,combination of elements, and arrangement of parts which will beexemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope ofthe invention will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention,reference should be had to the following detailed description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of the head of one embodiment of the club ,of thisinvention; in this instance, an iron ranging in number from I to 6;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of another club head, higher in number;that is, a 7 to 9 iron;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the club of FIG. 1 along lines 3-3;

FIG. 4 is a rear view; and

FIG. Sis a face or front view.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout theseveral views of the drawings.

As seen in FIG. 1, the golf club ofthis invention comprises a hosel It)and a club head 12. The head is preferably integral with the hosel.

The face 14 of the head 12 comprises the ball striking surface and maybe angled with respect to a vertical plane in accord with the clubnumber; that is, from the usual 2 to 9 for irons, and 1 to 4 for woods.

The upper end (not shown) ofthe hosel 10 is connected to a shaft which,in turn, has a suitable handle or grip at its upper end. This handle isaffixed in the usual well-known manner in the trade.

Interconnected between the hosel 10 and the head 12, at the lower end ofthe hosel is a shank 16. It should be'noted, with special reference toFIG. 1, that this interconnection or shank, in the instance shown, isperpendicular to the axis of the hosel 10. However, it may be angled,the only requirement is that the club head 12 be rearwardly of the hosel10. Because of such rearward positioning, the club head will alwaysfollow the hands of the golfer during swing of the club. And since thegolfer inherently positions his ball at the lowest point of thedownswing of this stroke; that is, the swing of the club, the recessionof the club head will cause the automatic taking of a divot since theball will be automatically struck on on the downswing and the club faceenters the earth after the ball is gone.

The shank may be connected to the upper side portion of the head (asbest seen in FIGS. 1, 4 and 5) preferably with the lower numbered irons,or to the lower side portion of the head (as best seen in FIG. 2),preferably for the higher numbered irons.

The length of shank 16, coupled with the angle of the club face, whichis in accord with the club number and the point of connection of theshank to the club head, will govern the distance with which the loweredge 18 of the head recedes from the hosel. It preferably varies fromone-half to two golf ball diameters. Thus, a divot of varying amount maybe taken, but in any event, the ball will still be struck on thedownswing.

It might be also noted, with particular reference to FIG. 1,

that the center of mass of the entire'club will be located near the clubhead, but since it is recessed with respect to the hosel, balancing ofthe club will cause a cantileverlike hang. This cantileverlike hang ofthe club head will provide the golfer with better leverage control overthe head. Such increased control over the club head will decrease thelikelihood of the club face being forced off its desired positioning bythe force of impact between the club face and ball.

Several other inherent advantages are provided by the unique angling ofthe hosel with the club head.

The recessed positioning of the club face will ensure that the hands ofthe golfer are automatically kept ahead of the striking surface. He willposition his ball in the center of this stance to compensate for suchrecessed positioning, and in doing so, the frequent desire of anoccasional golfer to scoop the ball is eliminated, and, in fact, becomesimpossible to do.

Still another advantage of the recessed positioning of the club head, ascan be seen in FIG. 1, is that the offset of the club face, whereby theball will be struck on the downswing, will cause the taking of a smallbit of earth or divot automatically. Such will indicate to the golferthat he is providing for the proper time and type of contact of the clubhead face with the ball.

With particular reference to FIG. 3, it can be seen that when the shankis aligned with a given objective, the club face is automaticallypositioned to be perpendicular to the desired line of flight of theball. Thus, better aiming is possible.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those madeapparent from the preceding description are efficiently attained, andsince certain changes may be made in the above construction withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention, it is intended that allmatter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanyingdrawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense.

I claim:

1. A set of golf clubs of the driving type, each comprising,

a shaft; a hosel attached to the lower end ofsaid shaft, a golf clubhead having a face angled rearwardly with respect to the vertical axisof said shaft, the angle being different for each club in the set, and ashank having a horizontal component of length of from one-half to twodiameters of a golf ball, each of said shanks leading rearwardly fromthe hosel and being connected to the club head face, said shanks beingconnected to the upper side portion of the club head face in clubshaving a small angle between the club head face and the vertical axis ofthe shaft, and to the lower side portion of the club head face in clubshaving a large angle between the club head face and the vertical axis ofthe shaft.

